Grilled Pumpkin with Liquorize-Dusted Hazelnuts

November already, gosh… We have been off the blog for some weeks due to many other projects and jobs, and also due to friends & family visits and autumn activities. Indeed, since more than a week already, we enjoy the most lovely autumn scenery over here that we can think of: golden sunlight illuminates autumn leaves that glow in manifold colors. At noon, it still feels like September, and it’s only in the evenings that chilly temperatures remind you that December will be at the doors in a few weeks already.
We are so happy about all that sunshine, because the greater part of October had been dark and rather humid. Of course, every now and then we also like some stormy and rainy episodes, it belongs to this season as well, doesn’t it. But after week two (and no milder days in sight), we were like: let’s do a little indoor barbecue to bring back lovely summer memories. Obviously, our cooking intervention had been successful also meteorologically. And since winter outdoor barbecues are so enormously popular since quite some time already, we will go on with our dirty-weather-indoor-grilling. With a proper barbecue pan, this works perfectly well – and the next bad weather period is already approaching to keep us in training…

Grilled Pumpkin with Liquorize-Dusted Hazelnuts

This simple dish is true comfort food as long as you resist the impulse to take the pumpkin off the pan before due time in order to make it more easy to get that stuff off the pan without any accident. Indeed, the fancy flavor combination needs that close-to-mash texture that turns a nice pumpkin into a wonderful, silky feel-good experience. Nuts and veggies with starch go along very well with liquorice anyway since they come along with some sweetness, and crema di balsamico (that we forgot about at the photo shooting) adds up to this and provides that decisive touch of acid (we forgot the crema during the photo shooting, by the way). Quatre épices, moreover, flatters not just your pâté but also any winter vegetable.

Toast hazelnuts in a dry pan. Leave to cool a little, than rub the nuts with a towel to remove the nut’s skin. With the flat blade of a big knife, press on the nuts to break in coarse pieces

Mix quatre épices, sea-salt and pepper. Clean and pit the pumpkin and cut into small slices, marinate with the spiced oil.

Grease the barbecue pan and bring to medium heat. Roast the pumpkin slices on both sides until done. Arrange on plates, ideally with some lettuce (we had wonderful mache with walnut oil and home-made rosehip vinegar which is finally ready to use after about six weeks of infusion). Dust the hazelnuts with licorice powder. Sprinkle the pumpkin slices with some crema di balsamico and some hazelnuts. Done. And if you like, add some shavings of parmigiano cheese as well. Enjoy!

Thank you, Adriana! It’s a matter of personal taste, of course, but if you like liquorice in general, nuts go along with it very well since their slight sweetness and deep flavor make a nice background to any anise-like flavor.